


Hell is Paved With Good Intentions

by Rivela



Series: The Adversities of The Defective Shield [1]
Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Gen, Slice of Life, Unfortunate car pooling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-03
Updated: 2018-02-03
Packaged: 2019-03-12 23:58:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13558326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rivela/pseuds/Rivela
Summary: Set after the January 8th Raw show. On taking losses and trying too hard with the best intents at heart.





	Hell is Paved With Good Intentions

Things were... tense, to say the least. It was obvious and, worse of all, it was palpable.

Jason hadn’t meant for everything to blow up in his face, and on Roman’s and Seth’s; and, well, no one saw Miz and The Miztourage coming to rub salt on the wound either, leaving a message loud and clear for Roman. But that was how things went down. It was done, nothing he or anyone could do to change it, and Jason thought, for his own comfort, that things would have been the same even if Dean was there: an ambush was an ambush regardless of the parties involved. So no offense was taken when he was given the cold shoulder when he offered them a helping hand to stumble backstage.

Jason understood more than he let on. He didn’t expect them to welcome him with open arms into their stable, but he wasn’t going to be stepped on either as if he knew nothing of what it meant to be a team. Perhaps he was too eager to belong, and his stubbornness didn’t do him any favors either paired with his ability to act on the spot without weighing the consequences... He was out of his element, doing his best to find himself and his place by himself, it showed and he wasn’t scared to admit that it had become overwhelming at some point, but Jason Jordan wasn’t one to quit and he wouldn’t start any time soon.

In his hard head he had a small sliver of hope, he could make things better, help them out with whatever menial task was possible and try to lift their spirits up a bit. If things went well, it would be the starting point for them to get along.

“You know, you don’t have to do this.” Seth said as Jason strolled pulling on and carrying Seth’s suitcases and bags.

“It’s nothing, man.”

And it really wasn’t. In retrospective, Jason had gotten the nice end of the stick; Seth still held and squeezed his arm every so often, and he wasn’t sure how beat up Roman was. Jason didn’t dare ask, and, by the scowls he had received from him in the locker room, he made sure to stay out of his way until it was time to leave.

It was crystal clear they didn’t like him, although Seth was somewhat more civil towards him than Roman, but if anything had rubbed off on him during his time in American Alpha ─or rather, from the time it took him to warm up to Chad and on─, was the stubborn push to do anything necessary to achieve his goals and dreams. Jason had learned that the hard way with Chad, and, once he had given him the chance, he was blown out of his mind; he was more than willing to do the same with Roman and Seth, prove them wrong on their assumptions about who he was and what he was capable of. He didn’t have to be their new best friend, they just had to see his talent and respect him as a wrestler.

He wasn’t in American Alpha anymore, and he sure as hell wasn’t part of The Shield either. He was Jason Jordan, elbowing his way to earn a place among big names and make history. He wanted, now more than ever, reach higher heights, get past of what was considered the pinnacle of his career so far, and he didn’t care about bumping heads with everyone to establish himself. Unfortunately, the people he was having the most issues with were the men he hoped he could form a team with, which narrowed any possibility to show them how good they could be together from slim to none.

“Hey. Ready to go?” He heard Seth ask, and Jason looked up to see Roman walking towards them.

“Yeah.” Roman sighed, deep and heavy.

He was obviously not pleased with car pooling with Jason, his face crumpled with a frown and his lips pressed together in a tight pout of annoyance. Whether Seth had told him beforehand about the three of them riding together or not, it didn’t matter since there wasn’t anything to do about it; and Jason was glad they tolerated him enough to put up with sharing a car instead of stranding him to his own devices to get to the hotel.

Seth and him stood next to the car, both looking at Roman stuffing his things in the back of the vehicle, in an awkward silence marked by Roman’s indecipherable mumbling. Once he was done, Seth sported the most concerned face Jason had seen and the relief of not being ditched by them disappeared altogether.

“Uh, I guess I’ll drive-” Seth began.

“No. I, uh, I’ll do it. Your arm-” Jason rushed to say, his hands motioning up and down the length of Seth’s hurt arm.

Roman climbed into the backseat, ignoring them, and it was Seth’s turn to sigh while he nodded to Jason in agreement. It would have been a win, his opportunity to tell them to relax and leave everything in his hands for a few minutes, as if driving was the first building step for mutual trust, but Seth’s face revealed how done he was with this. And suddenly all that confidence he had mustered up from his own naive musings crumbled down.

Now, he too, wished they were already at the hotel, away from them for the rest of the night in the safety of his loneliness. A mix of exasperation and sadness turned his stomach upside down, and it took him a little too long to collect himself to start the engine, it wasn’t until he heard Seth clearing his throat that he snapped out of it.

Jason drove the best he could with trembling hands and the nagging sensation of having Roman glaring holes on the back of his head, anxiety getting him to speed on turns or stop abruptly at every red light. It was near impossible to ease into his own skin without feeling like even breathing could make them go off on him and, since striking up conversation, Jason thought of the best next thing to distract himself and fill the silence. Music was the best background noise.

“Uh, do you guys mind if I play some music?” He ventured to ask.

Seth looked up from his phone and hummed a quick yes before turning his head to the backseat, where Roman was busy looking out through the window. He gave Jason a forced half smile. “Sure, go ahead.”

And so he did. Jason connected his phone to the car stereo, his music player resuming the last track he had listened to, and the car filled with heavy guitar riffs combined with an equally heavily synthesized chorus, drums setting a repetitive beat through it all, a nasal reverberation of a voice trying to blast some conceptual badassery.

Roman groaned out loud in the back seat rubbing his face with his palms before pulling on the hood of his sweatshirt and looking out the window. Meanwhile Seth inhaled deep, his nostrils flaring and his jaw tensing visibly... Jason didn’t notice, he swatted one of his hands against the steering wheel following the cadence of the American Males theme, chest puffed at the thought of making the moment more bearable for the three of them.

“Isn’t this a banger?!” He asked beaming a big smile to Seth, who tried his best to return the gesture, and Jason bought it.

He and his future brothers in arms had taken a loss for the night, but that didn’t mean they were losers... if this ride was any indicator.


End file.
